1. Field of the Disclosure
This application relates to the field of wireless communications systems, and more particularly to mobile wireless communications devices and related methods that allow user devices to authenticate to wireless networks (e.g., cellular networks) using access control credentials provided to the user devices using Near Field Communications (NFC).
2. Description of the Background
Cellular wireless networks provide voice and data services to “user equipments” (UEs) such as cellular telephones and computers. To access the cellular network, a UE must have access credentials, such as a private key or other security information needed to authenticate the UE to the cellular network. In the prior art, the UE is most typically provisioned with access credentials using a so-called Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, which is hardware that stores and provides the credentials. The SIM card is inserted into a receptacle built into the main circuit board of the UE.
SIM card support may entail a relatively large footprint on the circuit board. However, the amount of data that a SIM card typically holds may not warrant such a large footprint. Nevertheless, because the SIM card must be manually handled to insert it into or remove it from the UE, there is a limit to how much its footprint can be reduced before the ability to physically handle the card is compromised.
In addition to provisioning a UE initially, currently, the SIM card must be handled when switching UEs, such as when upgrading from an old mobile phone to a newer one, or when reprovisioning a phone to work with a different carrier. In the former case, the SIM card must be physically removed from the old UE and inserted into the new UE. This may entail additional steps and further inconvenience if the new phone uses a different SIM card format, e.g., a mini SIM versus a micro SIM, or the like. In the latter case, a first SIM card must be removed from a UE and a second SIM card inserted into the same UE, which may require that the SIM card not current in use by the UE be managed so that it is not lost or damaged.